“Are you the officer who previously found the other girls who were brought here under similar circumstances?”
“I am, sir.”
“Did you see any one to-night, or hear anything, that might shed a ray of light on this mystery?”
“I did not, sir,” said Donovan. “I’m all in the dark. I’m blessed if I can fathom how and when the girl went there. I had my eyes open all the evening because of the other cases, but how——”
“Yes, yes, no doubt.” Doctor Devoll checked him with a deprecatory gesture. “I must apply for more night men in this district, if these extraordinary episodes are to continue. The cause must be found and the culprits discovered. That is, of course, if it’s a case for the police.”
“She may be a drug fiend, sir, or perhaps——”
“It is useless to speculate,” Doctor Devoll interrupted. “I could learn nothing from the others. I will try this one.”
He opened his medicine case while speaking, taking from it a small sponge and a slender vial filled with an amber-colored fluid, a few drops of which he poured on the sponge. Then he held it with his long, lean fingers near the nostrils of the unconscious girl.
The effect appeared almost magical. A tinge of color instantly dispelled her ghastly paleness. She caught her breath with a gasp and a convulsive heave, as if some potent stimulant had suddenly filled her lungs, and Doctor Devoll quickly drew away the sponge and replaced it in his case, hastily closing it.
He scarcely had done so when, with a low moan, the girl opened her eyes and stared around, then at her observers, with the mute wonderment of one awakening amid strange surroundings and in view of unfamiliar faces. They seemed to alarm and further stimulate her, for she started up, gasping amazedly: